


The Search

by Lieju



Series: Jerk Vampire AU [5]
Category: Gaston (Bande Dessinée), Spirou et Fantasio
Genre: Liliane is Prunelle's mum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 13:39:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8016127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lieju/pseuds/Lieju
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Continuation to this vampire AU. In the hopes of finding a lead to Prunelle's whereabouts Spirou, Fantasio and the Count pay a visit to his mother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Search

Fantasio stared at the door with the all-too-familiar name on it, and glanced at the two men accompanying him. "So, which one of us is going to do the talking?"

 

"You were the closests to her son," The Count of Champignac pointed out.

 

Fantasio looked at Spirou. "Yeah, but I don't know if I'm really the best person to-"

 

He stopped, unsure what they were going to do here. Comfort a grieving mother while trying to get information out of her?

 

"I think Léon mentioned her once or twice," Fantasio said. "But I never met her."

 

And now that he thought about it- "I don't think I even saw her at the funeral."

 

"She wasn't there," The Count said. "I looked into it, and that's why we're here. She took care of the funeral arrangements, but didn't show up at the actual service."

 

"That's not proof of anything," Spirou pointed out. "She might have been too overwhelmed, that's all."

 

"Of course," The Count nodded. "But it's a lead. The vampire seems to have fled his past life after turning the office boy, but..."

 

Fantasio stepped forward to ring the doorbell, and when it opened it felt at least a relief to know she was alive.

 

"Morning," Fantasio greeted the woman standing at the door. He tried to see the resemblance between her and Léon, and wondered what it said about both of them that the first thing that came to his mind was how tired she looked.

 

The kind of weariness that could not be fixed with a good night's sleep. She did, however manage to give the impression she was keeping it all together despite certain tightness and tenseness in her.

 

Fantasio tried to calculate in his head how old she was. In her fifties at least. Her hair in the tight bun showed signs of greying. He glanced at her thin neck. At least it didn't seem a vampire had been visiting her.

 

The blond reporter offered his hand in greeting. "My name is Mister Fantasio. Mrs. Prunelle, I assume? I worked with your son."

 

She took the offered hand. "A pleasure. I have heard of you."

 

Her eyes travelled to the bellhop. "And of course I recognize the mascot of the Spirou magazine."

 

A suspicion flickered in her eyes as she looked at the third man. "Can't say the same about you."

 

The Count bowed. "Count of Champignac. I am an associate of the two young men here. May we come in?"

 

She stepped aside.

 

Spirou tried giving her a smile. "This is a very nice place you have here, Mrs. Prunelle."

 

"Miss", she pointed out. "Never married."

 

"Ah."

 

"I used to work with your son," Fantasio interrupted. "My condolences."

 

She nodded. "Yes."

 

Fantasio gave a quick look at the small tidy apartment. He didn't know what the Count had expected to find. A vampire hiding here?

 

"If I may ask," The Count said, "He didn't have much of a family, did he?"

 

"No."

 

"His father?"

 

"I fail to see how that's any of your business."

 

"I think it is,"the Count said, meeting her stare. "Because of a certain incident that took place 30 years ago."

 

Fantasio looked at the Count. He hadn't heard anything about this-

 

It was clear the woman knew immediately what he was talking about.

 

The Count continued, ignoring their hostess's discomfort. "30 years ago, you were involved in a peculiar incident. Suspected of murder, in fact-"

 

She let out a strangled breath, almost a hiss.

 

"The only reason no one took it seriously was because the corpse seemed, to all purposes, to have been dead for at least a year. Although it remained unexplained how he had been seen alive and well just the day prior, when he had been seen entering your house through the window-"

 

"Why are you doing this?"

 

"The best explanation given was that grave robbing had been involved, but in the end you were let go. Maybe someone had an idea what had happened, or no one wanted to indict a young single mother for staking a corpse through a heart. Especially since her only son had just fallen deathly ill..."

 

"Léon was ill at the time, yes, I don't remember much about that. Something in his blood. But he made a perfect recovery."

 

"A vampire doesn't simply appear, and neither will all victims of them rise to the undeath. They will come, for those they had loved in life to drag them to Hell with them. Their friend, a lover, a _son._ "

 

"That was 30 years ago-" Liliane stopped.

 

"Léon was fine," She repeated. "He recovered, from an illness, and I have no time for this nonsense."

 

"He almost died, 30 years ago," the Count insisted. "And the damage was done, so when he eventually did die, a vampire was born. And his mother made certain his body was safe, not cremated. You were very adamant about that-"

 

She stood up. "Leave."

 

The Count stood. "And your son died. And the creature that now wears his face turned someone, and has killed several others."

 

Spirou stepped between them. "Please, if you know anything-"

 

"Leave."

 

"I understand what it is like," The Count's expression softened. "To see someone looking like someone you used to love being.... But you should know by now, after all you did the right thing 30 years ago-"

 

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

 

The count nodded. "I take it your son hasn't been back here."

 

He walked to the door."After all you're still alive."

 

...

 

Liliane sat in her chair, in silence, watching it turn dark.

 

And she waited.

 

She didn't know what she was waiting for, every night after her son had been buried she had sat there, waiting for the doorbell to ring, or maybe for there to be a knock on the window.

 

She didn't leave her house after dark anymore. And yet she had not bought garlic or holy water, and the only cross in the house had been removed from the wall and placed in the drawer.

 

A thought of a stake had passed her mind, but it had been rejected as soon as it bubbled into the surface.

 

She wasn't certain what she would do.

 

Or what to think of the fact he had not come for her.

 

She was just... tired.

 

The doorbell rang, and she tensed.

 

She opened the door, wordless.

 

He was alive. It must have been that, even if his skin was deathly pale and his eyes were now as dead as Felix's had been.

 

"Hi mum."

 

She nodded. Of course it was him.

 

"Aren't you going to invite me in?"

 


End file.
